A year to the day after Comcast announced plans to acquire NBC- Universal, the cable giant said Friday that it hopes the Federal Communications Commission will approve the deal by the end of the year.
The announcement came as Comcast also extended by 90 days its transaction with NBC parent General Electric Co. as the companies awaiting FCC approval.
But the extension doesn't mean Comcast wants to wait 90 days for it: The suggested timeline is a push for the FCC to move fast, and tweaks opponents who think the deal needs much more review.
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News this week that FCC chairman Julius Genachowski would seek a vote on a net neutrality plan at the commission's Dec. 21 meeting raised speculation that the commissioners would have to delay a merger decision.
The merger is not on the meeting agenda, but Comcast spokeswoman Sena Fitzmaurice noted that merger votes don't need to occur at a public meeting and that the FCC staffers working on net neutrality and Comcast are separate.
"We are still focused on working with the agencies to receive regulatory approval by year's end," she told TheWrap.
The anti-merger group the Coalition for Competition in Media said in a statement that Comcast was trying to "rush the FCC review process and urge the Commission to vote behind closed doors."
"Comcast fears real scrutiny of this mega-merger. And for good reason," the group said. "Analysis of this deal shows it will cost viewers over $2 billion, it will reduce choices on the dial, lead to fewer independent news sources and undermine competition. So while Comcast may prefer back-room deals to public scrutiny, the FCC should uphold a higher standard. We are confident the Commissioners will do so.”
The American Cable Association, a coalition of small and medium-sized cable companies, commissioned a study that said consumers would pay $2.4 billion in higher subscription prices. Comcast has called the analysis "flawed."
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) said in a statement to TheWrap that Comcast was trying to "jack up its customers’ prices for programming, even as it restricts their choices."
"Comcast's recent willingness to violate net neutrality demonstrates the need to stop its merger with NBC," he said. "That is why I recently urged the FCC to block the merger, both to protect a free and open Internet and competition in the media.”
Will Wiquist, a spokesman for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), an opponent of the merger, also said Comcast should slow down. More than 1,800 people have sent a form letter to the FCC to oppose the merger since the letter was posted Thursday on the senator's site, he said.
"They've made a practice of measuring the drapes at NBC for quite a while," Wiquist said. "They're doing joint advertising in Capitlol Hill newspapers, they've announced executive teams for NBC even though they don't own them yet — last I heard, the FCC has something to say about it."